Amount Of Counterfeit Dollars Seized In Russia Falls By 68% In 2001

12,693 crimes related to counterfeiting were registered in Russia in the first 11 months of 2001. Sergei Skvortsov, deputy head of the Department of Fighting Economic Crimes of the Russian Interior Ministry, the investigation of 1,951 crimes has been completed, and the criminal cases had been submitted to courts. Criminal charges were filed against 1,132 people. The damage caused to the state exceeded 358 million rubles (about $11.9 million), of which the state has been compensated for over 326 million rubles (about $10.8 million). Skvortsov pointed out that most of the seized false legal tenders were 100-ruble and 500-ruble bank notes. A decrease in the amount of seized false foreign currency has been reported in 2001. Thus, the amount of seized false dollars in the first 11 months of 2001 was 68% less than that in the corresponding period of 2000. In total, 753,910 dollars were seized, of which 100-dollar bank notes made up 99.7%.